Ventilated housing



Jan. 7, 1941.

E. J. ZELT 2,22 7,990 VENTILATED HOUSING Filed April 2, 1940 Minn,

l0 I If. i d l; mum/J I Inventor":

Illllllllllll|"mlll"I"ll|I"I|lllllllllllllmlllllm I I Elmer J. Zelt,

H is' Attor'he y.

' Patented Jan. 7, 1941 UNITED STATES VENTILATED HOUSING Elmer J. Zelt, Fort Wayne, Ind., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application April 2, 1940, Serial No. 327,413

3 Claims.

This invention relates to ventilated housings and particularly, though not necessarily limited thereto, tohousings for electrical apparatus.

Fabricated metal housings for electrical apparatus, such as transformers of the air cooled type, are usually provided with a plurality of louver openings in the lower and upper portions thereof for permitting the circulation of cooling air into the interior thereof for conducting away the heat generated by the enclosed apparatus. In certain installations sprays of water may be directed against the housings, or if mounted out of doors, rain may impinge thereagainst and so that some of the water may find its way into the interior of the housing. While the windings of the electrical apparatus enclosed are usually covered with a waterproofing varnish or compound, the presence of water on various surfaces of the apparatus is none the less undesirable, and should be avoided as much as possible. jacent the louver openings so as to shield the enclosed apparatus from water, but such means are usually relatively complicated and generally materially reduce the free circulation of air through the housing.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a ventilated housing for apparatus such as electrical transformer devices having relatively simple and inexpensive means for effectively preventing the passage of water onto the parts of the enclosed apparatus.

For a consideration of what I believe to be novel and my invention, attention is directed to 3,3 the following description and the claims appended thereto taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view, partially in section, illustrating a ventilated housing constructed in accordance with one form of my invention and Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the housing illustrating certain structural details thereof.

Referring now to the drawing, the ventilated housing shown is a rectangular box-like structure having a plurality of vertical side walls ID, a base II and a topl2. The side walls it may be secured in any suitable manner such as by screws l3 to the corner uprights l4 extending between the base and top plates. The housing in this instance is designed for enclosing a piece of electrical apparatus such as a transformer l5 the operation of which is accompanied by certain heat losses that must be carried away in order to prevent the overheating of the windings and possible injury to the in- Baffle means may be arranged adsulation, The vertical side walls to of the housing are provided with a plurality of longitudinal louver openings arranged horizontally along the lowermost portion thereof for admitting cooling air to the interior of the housing. A 5 plurality of similar longitudinal louver openings 2| are provided in the upper portion of the side walls for/permitting the heated air rising from the transformer IE to escape from the interior of the housing.

In order to prevent water that passes through the louver openings 20 and 2| from striking or falling upon the transformer, I provide baflle plates back of the lower louver openings 2% and battle plates 26 back of the upper louver 15 openings2l. These baiile plates are so arranged as to intercept any water projected through the louver openings and deflect it downwardly where it may collect upon the base plate 5 I and drain through openings 2'! provided at the lower '20 edge of the side walls. The baffle plates are furthermore so arranged as not to materially interfere with the free circulation of the corn vection air currents through the housingI Each baffle plate comprises a longitudinal 25 member having 'a length substantially equal to the width of the side wall or at least somewhat greater than the overall length of the group of louver openings. Each plate 25 is longitudinally bent 'so as to have a flat central portion 32 which, in, the assembled position of the plate, extends parallel with the side wall iii, an upper portion 33 which extends upwardly and angul'arly 'away from the side wall and a lower portion 34 which extends downwardly and out- 35 wardly at an angle with respect to the side wall. These plates are suitably secured, as by welding, to the side walls in a spaced relation thereto, spacer blocks 35 being provided between the opposite ends of the plates and the side walls. It will be noted that the lower edge of the fiat portion 32 is substantially even with the upper limit of the louver openings, while the lower edge of the bent out portion 34 terminates near the base plate H and below the lower. limit of the louver openings. Due to the space provided between the ballle plate and the side walls, air may pass upwardly therethrough and is not pocketed beneath the portion 34.

Each bafiie plate 26 may also'be formed from a rectangular piece of metal and has the opposite upper corners 38 and 39 bent inwardly at substantially right angles with respect to the remaining flat portion thereof substantially as indicated. The upper edge of the baffle plate portions are also slightly spaced from the side walls [0 to prevent heated air from being pocketed in the upper portion of the housing. Small strips 42 are welded to the cover plate between the corners of adjacent baflle plates for intercepting any water which may have a tendency to crawl along the under surface of the cover plate to a point over the transformer in the interior of the housing. Drops of water reaching the strips 42 will fall from the lower edge thereof onto the base plate II of the housing. As indicated, the main portion of the baffle plate 26 slopes from the cover plate I2 toward the side walls l0 so that water projected through the openings 2| will be caught thereby and will flow from the lower edge thereof downwardly adjacent the side walls.

Jets of water indicated by lines 45 entering the lower louver openings 20 will strike against the inclined lower portion 34 of the baffle plate 25 and will be deflected downwardly to the base plate I I and may be drained from the interior of the housing through the holes 21. Depending upon the velocity of the water jets entering the louver openings, a certain amount thereof may pass upwardly between the side walls and the central portion 32 of the bafile plate. Any such water, however, will form in a pool as indicated at 46 in the trough defined by the portion 33 of the baffle plate and the side wall. This pool of water will effectively block any spray which might otherwise have a tendency to pass upwardly through the space between the baffle plate and the side wall and onto the surfaces of the enclosed apparatus. The pool of water 46 may drain from the open opposite ends of the baffle plate or, upon the cessation of the stream of water projecting through the louver openings, it may drain directly downwardly. A water jet indicated by lines 41 entering the upper louver openings 21 will be caught in the pocket defined by the cover plate I2 and the baflie plate 26, and will flow downwardly toward the side wall [0 and drip from the lower edge thereof. The drippings from the upper baffle plate 26 will preferably fall into the trough defined by the lower baflle plate portion 33 and the adjacent side wall portion and then proceed downwardly through the passage between the baflle plate portion 32 and the I side wall to the base of the housing. The drops of water falling from the upper bafile plate will therefore not splash directly upon the lower base plate H and splatter back upwardly against the enclosed apparatus.

Havin described the principle of operation of my invention together with the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that the form shown is merely illustrative and that the invention may be carried out by other means.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a ventilated housing having a vertical wall, a plurality of ventilating openings in said wall, a bafile means secured in a spaced relationship to the inner surface of said wall having a portion extending downwardly over said openings and angularly away from said wall and a portion extending upwardly above said openings and angularly away from said wall.

2. In a ventilated housing having a vertical wall, a horizontal longitudinal ventilating opening in said wall, a baflie plate secured to the inner surface of said wall in a spaced relation thereto, said plate having a longitudinal central portion extending substantially parallel with said wall above said opening, said plate having a lower longitudinal portion integral with said central portion and extending angularly downwardly away from said wall to a point below the lowermost extremity of said opening, said plate having an upper longitudinal portion integral with said central portion extending angularly upwardly away from said wall.

3. In a ventilated housing having a vertical wall, a ventilating opening in the lower portion of said wall, a baffle plate secured in a spaced relation to the inner surface of said wall, said plate having a central horizontal longitudinal portion arranged substantially parallel with said wall above the upper limit of said opening, said plate having a lower longitudinal portion integral with said central portion extending downwardly and angularly away from said wall to a point below the lowermost limit of said opening, an upper ventilating opening in the upper portion of said wall, an upper baffie plate sealed at its upper edge with respect to said wall above said upper opening and sloping inwardly toward said wall below said upper opening the lowermost edge of said upper bafile plate being spaced from the inner surface of said wall a distance less than the upper edge of said lowermost bafiie plate.

ELMER J. ZELT. 

